Never Too Young for Child Abuse

Child abuse hurts. It hurts children. It hurts families. It hurts communities. Child abuse is a sad, tragic problem that touches many lives. It hurts the most vulnerable members of our community, our children.

No child is too young to be abused. Although physical abuse happens more frequently to the older child, babies six months and younger are shaken and battered. When a parent shakes an infant– often in a fit or rage brought on by the baby’s crying– the delicate veins in the baby’s head tear and bleed. Blood pools between the skull and the dura matter– a tough membrane next to the brain– and forms a hematoma, a large blood clot. Swelling of the bruised brain and the hematoma produce pressure causing irreversible brain damage– called black brain because of the color of the damaged brain on a CT scan. If the child survives, they often suffer blindness, paralysis, or developmental difficulties. Boy babies are particularly vulnerable to Shaken baby/shaking impact syndrome. Their heads are larger in proportion to their bodies and their neck muscles are weak.

Four hundred to five hundred cases of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP) occur each year. MSBP is a psychological disease in which a parent, often the mother, lies about medical symptoms or causes illness to their child to gain sympathy and attention. These abusers do not lash out spontaneously like most ordinary abusers, they slowly harm the child.

A mother brought her infant daughter into Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston for breathing problems. She was caught on a hidden camera suffocating her daughter. Another child was treated for ulcers on his back. His mother was rubbing oven cleaner into his skin. A mother put a near-fatal dose of Valium in her child’s milkshake then called 911. Often these parents have a background in medicine and look like devoted concerned parents. Diagnosis of MSBP can sometimes only be determined by removing the child from the home to see if his health improves.

Infants of mothers who use alcohol or drugs during pregnancy are abused and damaged before birth. Babies born with fetal alcohol syndrome can have physical abnormalities, failure in the central nervous system and learning disabilities. Addicted to drugs in the womb, babies of drug using mothers are born undersized and addicted. Some are born with undersized heads, abnormal intestines, deformed hearts and brain damage. Their addiction and subsequent withdrawal causes them to be so sensitive to touch they cannot be held or fed properly. And the danger of physical abuse increases as the child grows.

If we suspect child abuse, even if it’s among our family and friends, we can’t turn our back and pretend it doesn’t exist. We need to keep our children safe.